Iraq Update: Kurds Take Kirkuk, Al Qaeda Surges Toward Baghdad

Now that 25 year old math PhD HFT programmers have finally figured out what this thing called Iraq is, and why headlines around it should factor into algo trading signals - especially those of crude oil - here, for their benefit is a summary of the latest events in Iraq, and also for everyone else confused why crude is back to levels not seen since last summer.

In broader terms (via RanSquawk):

The situation in Northern Iraq continues to deteriorate as the extremist ISIS/ISIL group took control of Mosul and then moved into Tirkit, which was later recaptured, in the north of Iraq which is near the Ceyhan-Kirkuk pipeline, which carries 1.6mln bbls per day. ISIS/ISIL forces then seized the Baiji refinery, the main refinery in Iraq, from Iraqi forces. (BBG/RTRS)

Iraqi forces and militants have now clashed in Ramadi, 100km from Baghdad, as ISIL extremist forces push towards the Iraqi capital. (BBG)

However Iraqi Oil Minister Luaibi said US planes may bomb North Iraq and denied ISIL took Baiji refinery in the North. The oil Minister also said Iraq average crude exports 2.6mln bbl/d, Iraq crude production 3.166mln bbl/d, Kirkuk production 167,000 bbl/d and Iraq has stored oil products and won't increase imports. (BBG/RTRS)

Washington has vowed to boost aid to Iraq and is mulling done strikes amid fears that Iraqi forces are crumbling in the face of militant attacks. (RTRS)

And in detail:

As the WSJ reports, after hard core Al Qaeda spin off ISIS (no relation to Sterling Archer) took over Saddam's home town of Tikrit yesterday, Iraq edged closer to all-out sectarian conflict on Thursday as Kurdish forces took control of a provincial capital in the oil-rich north and Sunni militants vowed to march on two cities revered by Shiite Muslims. Kurdish militia known as peshmerga said they had taken up positions in key government installations in Kirkuk, as forces of the Shiite-dominated government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki abandoned their posts and fled in fear of advancing Sunni militants, an official in the office of the provincial governor said.

Reuters adds that "The whole of Kirkuk has fallen into the hands of peshmerga," citing Jabbar Yawar. "No Iraqi army remains in Kirkuk now."

This in turn has put the output of the key Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline, with a 1.6MM bbls/day capacity, at risk.

The militia were operating out of the headquarters of the Iraqi army's 2nd Division. The official said western parts of Kirkuk province were still under the control of fighters from the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham, or ISIS, an al Qaeda offshoot.

Abu Mohammed al-Adnani, a spokesman for the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham, said the al Qaeda-inspired group would advance on Karbala and Najaf, as well as the capital Baghdad, the Associated Press reported, citing an audio statement.

However, as we showed yesterday, the final ISIS target is none other than the city of Baghdad, and the overthrow of the Iraq government entirely.

In Tikrit, militants have set up military councils to run the towns they captured, residents said.

“They came in hundreds to my town and said they are not here for blood or revenge but they seek reforms and to impose justice. They picked a retired general to run the town,” said a tribal figure from the town of Alam, north of Tikrit.

“'Our final destination will be Baghdad, the decisive battle will be there,' that’s what their leader of the militants group kept repeating," the tribal figure said.

The powerful Shiite leader, Moqtada al-Sadr, urged his followers on Wednesday to form military units to defend the two cities, which along with Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia are considered sacred by Shiites.

Before he suspended its operations in 2008, Mr. Sadr's Mahdi Army, once estimated to have nearly 60,000 members, played a major role in the country's Sunni-Shiite sectarian conflict.

His call for military mobilization came after Mr. Maliki said the government would arm citizens who volunteer to fight militants, after the fall of Mosul on Tuesday.

Security was stepped up in Baghdad to prevent the Sunni militants from reaching the capital, which is itself divided into Sunni and Shi'ite neighborhoods and saw ferocious sectarian street fighting in 2006-2007 under U.S. occupation.

* * *

The Kurdish capture of Kirkuk instantly overturns the fragile balance of power that has held Iraq together as a state since Saddam's fall.

Iraq's Kurds have done well since 2003, running their own affairs while being given a fixed percentage of the country's overall oil revenue. But with full control of Kirkuk - and the vast oil deposits beneath it - they could earn more on their own, eliminating the incentive to remain part of a failing Iraq.

Maliki's army already lost control of much of the Euphrates valley west of the capital to ISIL last year, and with the evaporation of the army in the Tigris valley to the north this week, the government could be left in control only of Baghdad and areas south.

The surge also potentially leaves the long desert frontier between Iraq and Syria effectively in ISIL hands, advancing its stated goal of erasing the border altogether and creating a single state ruled according to mediaeval Islamic principles.

Maliki described the fall of Mosul as a "conspiracy" and said the security forces who had abandoned their posts would be punished. He also said Iraqis were volunteering in several provinces to join army brigades to fight ISIL.

In a statement on its Twitter account, ISIL said it had taken Mosul as part of a plan "to conquer the entire state and cleanse it from the apostates", referring to the province of Nineveh of which the city is the capital.

Militants were reported to have executed soldiers and policemen after their seizure of some towns.

* * *

And while all of the above explains oil's spike today, now that the world has yet another geopolitical hotzone to follow, following the China-Japan naval conflict, the China-Vietnam escalation, the Thailand martial law, the Ukraine civil war and now the Iraq collapse, expect the USDJPY rigging crew to ignite enough momentum to send the S&P 500 to fresh all time highs.

The challenge of leadership is to affect their goals while placing the blame for its consequences on others. Obama and friends have been as good at this as just about any. We thought Clinton was Teflon but Obama has an extra black layer of protection to ensure nothing will stick.

So, perhaps, Saddam was never such a problem? He provided a bridge between Al-CIAda and the multitude of multi-ethnic remants left behind when the British drew arbitrary borders in The ME before pulling out. And a "Bridge" to Iran. Saddam was NEVER an Al-CIAda supporter.

Where are "W" and "B-Liar" now. It's clear that US policy in the ME is collapsing under it's own weight. And lack of competence.

The US and UK never had any place in Iraq. Now, that is very clear... But, of course, The Military-Industrial Complex made another 1-2 Trillion Dollars, so it's all good....

Hey Pure Stupid, The US may bring all the refugees from The Middle East? Really? Now? Why not back in 2003-6 when Iraq was in full swing? None from Libya yet? Lebannon? Syria? Egypt, Tunisia, Bahrain? Palestine? Whew, lucky us... so far we've dodged a bullet!

Hey, those children from south of the border are not refugees; they're the kids of your migrant workers. They "take up residence" with their Mom and Pops because Mom and Pops are needed for picking your strawberries. And tomatoes. It IS for your children (well not yours, obviously, but you know what I mean) so they will get tomatoes on their Taco Bells and strawberries in their milkshakes.

If the opportunity to succeed rightfully belongs to the Oppressed 3rd world children (as you so succinctly put it) then why you bitchin?

Thanks I have read this article while it explains that they may now become self supporting it seems obvious to me that somebody spoon fed, trained, and organized them to become this force. The way I see it this is in the interest of the Sunnis(SA, Qatar...), and ISIS has been fighting against Assad so it does not seem likely that this is a Russian or an Iranian operation. Idk if this is in the US interests.

NEW POWER GRAB TAKING PLACE
...Soon, Will be new Middle East.
No more Iraq.
Will be Kurdistan (from Iraq & Turkey)
Will be Sunnistan (from Syria, Hizballah & Iraq)controlled by S A
Will be Shiitestan (from Iraq) controlled by Iran
...Too bad many civilians will be killed but Oil & NG will flow and peace will come in the long run.
...and Soon will be no more Ukraine

Al-Qaeda/jihad thing is an ongoing part of the broader CIA op in the region that has been running pretty much since the end of WW-II. The entire point of it is to control the oil. There are other competing international players involved, esp. China/Russia. My bet is that Iraq was starting to get cozy with competing players, hence the unleashing of "militants".

Yeah I was thinking about that, but may be there is more to the story. Perhaps there is a rift between the SA and the US and Qatar...hence two Al Qaedas...two Talibans...sadly I am not an expert on the middle east, so I am basically looking for the most logical conspiracy theory.

I don't think they have held any refineries until recently...they may have provided "protection" for the existing refineries, but still I don't think any group of extremists that exists today can be independent they all need to rely on bigger world powers for protection.

When it all boils down to it she was the direct cause of this whole quagmire.

Her quote to Saddam Hussien is as follows...

But we (the US Government) have no opinion on the Arab-Arab conflicts, like your border disagreement with Kuwait. I was in the American Embassy in Kuwait during the late 1960s. The instruction we had during this period was that we should express no opinion on this issue and that the issue is not associated with America. James Baker (US Secretary of State) has directed our official spokesmen to emphasize this instruction. We hope you can solve this problem using any suitable methods via Klibi (Chedli Klibi, Secretary General of the Arab League) or via President Mubarak. All that we hope is that these issues are solved quickly.

If the Bush Administration told Saddam that we do have an interest I am certain that Saddam would have reconsidered his plans as he was an ALLY before the Gulf War of 1991.

He wasn't a problem until he wanted to divorce the dollar from his black bride

I love that old clip of Cheney during the first Iraq war when asked why they didn't continue and take Baghdad. He goes on to explain how Saddam does just that, through an iron fist, keep an otherwise chaotic, rivaled, three part country under control. Things of course changed, peak oil started knocking at dick's door and Hussein stopped being their lap dog.

Well said. Amazing really, strongarm dictator known in the west as a war monger, tyrant, and thug...replaced by US imposed war mongers, tyrants, and thugs, just to be overrun by even more war momgers, tyrants, and thugs.

The US was in about 18th place in the long list of countries supplying arms to Saddam, cumulatively, by the time he fell. France was way up there. Sold Saddam over a 100Billion of arms and infrastructure projects on credit. The French were happy to have the easy business for their precious national, second rate arms makers. They had also pre-sold a lot of projects and weapons systems to Saddam during the UN's corrupt food for oil regime, rubbing their hands greedily for when all such sanctions would be lifted from their client. The US, for its part, had tied their own arms businesses hands, by law, for a very long time while less scrupulous internationall suppliers filled the gap.

He refused to play petrodollar ball ONCE. If he had not been given the "all clear" message from the US Ambassador to Iraq, April Glaspie, then he would have not invaded Kuwait.

Had he been allowed to take Kuwait then he'd have still sold those barrels of Oil in US Dollars.

The US Government SANCTIONED Saddam AFTER the first Gulf War.

The US Government REFUSED to buy Oil from Iraq AFTER the first Gulf War.

The children of Iraq were STARVING TO DEATH. So in 2000 he announced that he was going to sell Oil in Euros.

WE STARVED ONE HALF MILLION CHILDREN and Madeline Albright, US Secretary of State under the Clinton Administration BRAGGED ABOUT IT saying in a TeeVee interview with Katie Couric that "...it was worth it." That is the Death Toll of twice that suffered in Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined. ONE HALF MILLION CHILDREN!!! They never lifted any fucking weapons against anyone.

It was a slaughter of innocents.

When speaking of children Jesus Christ said that it is better that you'd have never been born than to harm one of these. Jesus said it is better that you place a Millstone upon your neck and cast yourself into the sea than it is to harm one of these.

That is right. Jesus suggested that it would have been better for you to be ABORTED than it is to harm a child.

Jesus suggested that it is better that you commit SUICIDE than it is to harm a child.

And you support it? Yes you did as you supported it FINANCIALLY by paying taxes. Financial support is support.

Well we did not harm one child. We slaughtered ONE HALF MILLION CHILDREN.

Judgment is coming to America. There are none so deserving.

The atheist will say that there is no God. But what is so funny is that they are hoping that as they are wagering on an infinitesimal. They are hoping that there is no God because there is going to be Hell awaiting.

It's not just about oil. It's also, for various actors, about gas pipelines, about private central banking, about war profits, and about Greater Israel (Israel's Lobby is not merely a pain in the ass because they lobby for a small foreign state, but for the bellicose right wing government of a small foregn state with hundreds of thousands of de facto agents in great positions of power in the US government, media, etc.] .

Oversimplification is the enemy of precision. I leave it up to you to decide which politician is hawkish for what reason.

In any event, I stand in awe of Biden's kid being appointed to the board of a Ukrainian gas company (and a son in law to, maybe?] and there being basically no coverage of it in the press - that shit is impressive.

The CIA recruited hundreds of thousands of fully tribal arab muslim nut jobs to their cause. Wow. We suspected the CIA were good, but that's really, really good. James Bond sort of good. No hot chicks in spandex in the final explodiating sequences though. This is Islamland. The chicks will be all wrapped up.

Perhaps Obozo's handlers could pull him off the links long enough to to watch the HollyHoax version... His AlCIAda "adversaries" seem to understand the more nuanced messages.

"My men don't surrender", Patton continued, "I don't want to hear of any soldier under my command being captured unless he has been hit. Even if you are hit, you can still fight back. That's not just bull shit either. The kind of man that I want in my command is just like the lieutenant in Libya, who, with a Luger against his chest, jerked off his helmet, swept the gun aside with one hand, and busted the hell out of the Kraut with his helmet. Then he jumped on the gun and went out and killed another German before they knew what the hell was coming off. And, all of that time, this man had a bullet through a lung. There was a real man!"

Patton stopped and the crowd waited. He continued more quietly, "All of the real heroes are not storybook combat fighters, either. Every single man in this Army plays a vital role. Don't ever let up. Don't ever think that your job is unimportant. Every man has a job to do and he must do it. Every man is a vital link in the great chain. What if every truck driver suddenly decided that he didn't like the whine of those shells overhead, turned yellow, and jumped headlong into a ditch? The cowardly bastard could say, "Hell, they won't miss me, just one man in thousands". But, what if every man thought that way? Where in the hell would we be now? What would our country, our loved ones, our homes, even the world, be like? No, Goddamnit, Americans don't think like that. Every man does his job. Every man serves the whole. Every department, every unit, is important in the vast scheme of this war. The ordnance men are needed to supply the guns and machinery of war to keep us rolling. The Quartermaster is needed to bring up food and clothes because where we are going there isn't a hell of a lot to steal. Every last man on K.P. has a job to do, even the one who heats our water to keep us from getting the 'G.I. Shits'."

Patton paused, took a deep breath, and continued, "Each man must not think only of himself, but also of his buddy fighting beside him. We don't want yellow cowards in this Army. They should be killed off like rats. If not, they will go home after this war and breed more cowards. The brave men will breed more brave men. Kill off the Goddamned cowards and we will have a nation of brave men.

One of the bravest men that I ever saw was a fellow on top of a telegraph pole in the midst of a furious fire fight in Tunisia. I stopped and asked what the hell he was doing up there at a time like that. He answered, "Fixing the wire, Sir". I asked, "Isn't that a little unhealthy right about now?" He answered, "Yes Sir, but the Goddamned wire has to be fixed". I asked, "Don't those planes strafing the road bother you?" And he answered, "No, Sir, but you sure as hell do!" Now, there was a real man. A real soldier. There was a man who devoted all he had to his duty, no matter how seemingly insignificant his duty might appear at the time, no matter how great the odds. And you should have seen those trucks on the road to Tunisia. Those drivers were magnificent. All day and all night they rolled over those son-of-a-bitching roads, never stopping, never faltering from their course, with shells bursting all around them all of the time. We got through on good old American guts. Many of those men drove for over forty consecutive hours. These men weren't combat men, but they were soldiers with a job to do. They did it, and in one hell of a way they did it. They were part of a team. Without team effort, without them, the fight would have been lost. All of the links in the chain pulled together and the chain became unbreakable."

The General paused and stared challengingly over the silent ocean of men. One could have heard a pin drop anywhere on that vast hillside. The only sound was the stirring of the breeze in the leaves of the bordering trees and the busy chirping of the birds in the branches of the trees at the General's left. "Don't forget," Patton barked, "you men don't know that I'm here. No mention of that fact is to be made in any letters. The world is not supposed to know what the hell happened to me. I'm not supposed to be commanding this Army. I'm not even supposed to be here in England. Let the first bastards to find out be the Goddamned Germans. Some day I want to see them raise up on their piss-soaked hind legs and howl, 'Jesus Christ, it's the Goddamned Third Army again and that son-of-a-fucking-bitch Patton'."

"We want to get the hell over there", Patton continued, "The quicker we clean up this Goddamned mess, the quicker we can take a little jaunt against the purple pissing Japs and clean out their nest, too. Before the Goddamned Marines get all of the credit." The men roared approval and cheered delightedly. This statement had real significance behind it. Much more than met the eye and the men instinctively sensed the fact. They knew that they themselves were going to play a very great part in the making of world history. They were being told as much right now. Deep sincerity and seriousness lay behind the General's colorful words. The men knew and understood it. They loved the way he put it, too, as only he could.

Patton continued quietly, "Sure, we want to go home. We want this war over with. The quickest way to get it over with is to go get the bastards who started it. The quicker they are whipped, the quicker we can go home. The shortest way home is through Berlin and Tokyo. And when we get to Berlin", he yelled, "I am personally going to shoot that paper hanging son-of-a-bitch Hitler. Just like I'd shoot a snake!"

"When a man is lying in a shell hole, if he just stays there all day, a German will get to him eventually. The hell with that idea. The hell with taking it. My men don't dig foxholes. I don't want them to. Foxholes only slow up an offensive.

Keep moving. And don't give the enemy time to dig one either. We'll win this war, but we'll win it only by fighting and by showing the Germans that we've got more guts than they have; or ever will have. We're not going to just shoot the sons-of-bitches, we're going to rip out their living Goddamned guts and use them to grease the treads of our tanks. We're going to murder those lousy Hun cocksuckers by the bushel-fucking-basket. War is a bloody, killing business. You've got to spill their blood, or they will spill yours. Rip them up the belly. Shoot them in the guts. When shells are hitting all around you and you wipe the dirt off your face and realize that instead of dirt it's the blood and guts of what once was your best friend beside you, you'll know what to do!"

"I don't want to get any messages saying, "I am holding my position." We are not holding a Goddamned thing. Let the Germans do that. We are advancing constantly and we are not interested in holding onto anything, except the enemy's balls. We are going to twist his balls and kick the living shit out of him all of the time. Our basic plan of operation is to advance and to keep on advancing regardless of whether we have to go over, under, or through the enemy. We are going to go through him like crap through a goose; like shit through a tin horn!"

I'll bet ole MaMa jeans, super soaker in chief would simply wet his wee self if forced to read that excerpt redneck! This Country we now live in full of metrosexicals, and the newly termed spornosexicals must have the Great Patton spinning in his grave.

Patton figured out during the war who the real enemy was, and at the end was apalled at how the German people were treated. The usual suspects who are still at it today. Because of the threat that he represented, they had him killed and made it look like an accident:

"Removed from command by the ... plot against him, General George S. Patton would have to return to the United States to work for the good of his country" neglects the very important point that Patton intended to FORMALLY RESIGN HIS COMMISSION, instead of just retiring.

I Think that this time in American history during the Bonus Army riots was the closest we were to having a military Coup. Think about it, all those soldiers and former soldiers in Washington, D.C. What if Macarthur and Patton had different ideas than following orders.

The only other time methinks was when the Confederacy won Manassas. What, 30 miles from Washington? And the Union troops retreating through the streets on the Capital.

My neighbor was one of those truck drivers. He was black. When he got home after what he'd been through he decided nobody was going to call him "Boy" anymore. That meant he couldn't live where he'd grown up, in rural Mississippi. So he married his high school sweetheart and moved to Minneapolis and got a job driving truck for the City. The house he bought here was the first one he or his wife had ever lived in with running water or electricity. All their children have college degrees and successful professional careers.

Great motivational speaker. But what is unusual about a behind the lines commander telling other men to die before surrender, digging in or retreating. Yeppers, be a real man and die before backing up, you'll be a hero and thus never really die.

Real bravery from a Patton is to (very) publically call out the BS and real reasons for the wars. Discredit the propoganda used to create and support the wars. Tell the undiluted truth.

Did Patton live to be a general by always being the first in line and never taking a step back or taking cover in a trench or fox hole?

If you look at things now you can make an good arguement that the world would be better if Germany had won WW2, and it is very clear that things would be better if Germany had won WW1.

A number of people who are not credited, including the International Forecaster (the late Robert Chapman) and the Chaostan guy, called this ten years ago. Those two were right all along. Among other things, they called Iraq an open wound and Saddam was like a scab holding the mess together. They called the whole affair, Pax Americana, the nuevo crusade, a Tar Baby.

I read their stuff day after day, and Kunstler and Jim Sinclair; and was told I was too bearish.

I am using the language of analogy and legend; which to an increasingly literal and one-dimensional, declining publick hive mind is like speaking in tongues, in Enochian; but an epic tragedy such as we see sloooowly unfolding, requires a different language, a meta-language with which to leap over the daily bullshit.

Why would "us" fucking matter. They should'nt need to be scared of some fucking bully 10,000 miles away. America needs to finally mind its own goddamn business and stay out of it. I feel terrible for the innocent Iraqis, but enough is enough. Let's worry about our own for a change.

WMD YELLOW CAKE ALUMINUM TUBES All a pack of fucking lies....4500 of our kids killed and millions displaced,,who else but government could fuck things up this effectively. The billions in cash that went missing!!!!What could go wrong????

We are arming and supporting the Islamists in Syria. We have established training camps for Al Qaeda in Jordan, Libya, the Sinai desert, and Turkey to assure constant flow of Islamist killing machine.

Iraq's leaders will be sorry to ask us to bomb their enemy the Al Qaeda? We may end up bombing the other side, and say oops! Sh't happens! Our Islamist thugs are currently fighting our formal armed military in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, and Egypt. How crazy this picture? We helped Pakistan/Egypt/Iraq military become very powerful, then, our neocon goons advised us to do "CREATIVE CHAOS"? Set the place on fire along the sectarian line? Saudi / The obvious good foreign policy for America is to cooperate with all nations against Islamic terror. However, that can only happen if the US has leaders that cares about its interest? For decades now, America has elected leaders that works on Saudi/Israeli agenda.

The ignorant unwashed don't know, prevented from knowing, and don't want to know. Hence the presstitudes are in bed with foreign agents who run Washington. Washington is an occupied territory, and its trillion dollar defense work to defend others. As long as there is no free media, the foreign powers will keep running Washington, as the sheeple sleep. Saudi /Qatari money is flowing to feed that fire to exterminate Christianity in the ME! Somehow, our Muslim president is happy with that scheme, as well as his predecessor "Christian Bush"! Forget about the stupid 300 million sheeple, who got no way of knowing this because of our disinformation and lies from the mainstream press.

The MIC doesn't care, dude. They got to promote a lot of officers; and spend a lot of dollars; and you know, some sticks to the helping hands on the way through the star shaped building. We've been in their hands since Nov.22,1963, IMHO.

NO impeachment,,, Prosecution for war crimes and treason...and accessory to murder in fast and furious..Holder can join him...Fucking criminals,,,with nothing being done about it it's time to cancel congress,,useless bastards...send the fucks home and shut down the building..that should have a substantial positive effect on the budget...Fuck it's a start

Just a personal view, but I want to see Holder in a perp walk even more than Obama. This guy is the one tasked with implementing all sorts of nefarious policies and literally tearing down our border security. Any sane nation would view him as an active traitor.

With a new Sunni Caliphate developing on Iran's border you can expect a sweet little war between Iranian Shia extremists and the new and improved Sunni "super-Al Queda" extremists. All thanks to the USA first giving Libya's stockpile of weapons to the Syrian rebels and the fresh new, modern, deep stock of US weapons they are about to get from Iraq's seriously pussy dominated army (are you sure these guys aren't French?). We will have millions of dead and world war III by this time next year. Oh Fun!

This is like sitting in a pool of Acetone and playing with matches. It is not going to end well.....

Stupid joke, and a new example - still remaining, even in ZH - of the avalanche of neo-cons propaganda and silly jokes after the firm and sensible refusal of the French to join America in Irak, in 2003 ...

Since France refused to go to Iraq, American warmongers and neo-cons made French army look like cowards – as a punishment.

France Indochina was at war in the 1950s. The French pulled out and left that quagmire to the USA.

Yes it was interesting watching the fall of Saigon in April, 1975...DUE TO A FORCED FRANCE BROKERED PEACE ACCORD. Yeah. I really appreciate the fact that FRANCE did their best to kill the Gold Backed Dollar back in 1968....because of our involvement in Vietnam (French Indochina)

It will be interesting to watch the evacuation of the US Embassy in Baghdad. I am certain that it mirror that of the abandonment of the US Embassy in Saigon.

The French create these quagmires and the USA gets its ass kicked attempting to, failing to, clean up France's mess.

Of course the French refused to fight the Nazis Huns and had to have the Limeys and the Yanks "liberate" them.

If they had the balls to start an offensive in the fall of 1939 they could have walked into Berlin unopposed as Hitler was beefing up his defenses, in the middle of Poland, against his ally Russia. Of course they did not have the belly for the fight. The best defense is a good offense. But the frogs never learn.

Then you want to kick back and play innocent???

Fuck you, you self righteous arrogant frog. While I do not support the neocon agenda and I hate warfare it sure seems like the frogs do. Then they have foreigners fight the ensuiing battles for them...the French Foreign Legion on overdrive.

Oh. I am just one of those illiterate Americans who does not have a clue about Geopolitics.

-French Foreign Legion :And the first nationality in French foreign legion is … French !

-VietNam quagmire

The French lost Dien Bien Phu because they were screwed by NATO (ie. the US). They had to specialize in jets while others in Europe had to specialize in bombers.

And when it came to fight Communism (the Viet Cong, massively helped by Soviet Union and China) ... guess what... the US refused the NATO to get involved.

They had to fight the war without bombers, as in 1954 they had very few of these kind of planes.

And guess what... who had to fight the Vietnam war after the US sabotaged French effort ?

Besides that, in 1954, when the French were finally defeated in Vietnam, they had 50,000 troops and their biggest planes were Douglas A26 and C47’s, and Vought Corsairs.

When the US was defeated by the same enemy some twenty years later, they had 550,000 troops, B52’s, napalm, missiles, big helicopters, the works …

-Should have started an offensive in the fall of 1939

On this point you are right, but the French leaders were traumatized by the losses of WW1, only 21 years ago.

Casualties of World War I in France:1,697,800 dead, 4,266,000 wounded (of whom 1.5 million were permanently maimed), 537,000 made prisoner or missing. In total 73% of the 8,410,000 men mobilized (for a population of 40 million). This also means that 60% of men between the ages of 18 and 28 died or were permanently maimed.

You can have an idea of what these figures woud represent for the present population of the US:

13,412,000 dead, 33,701,400 wounded (of whom 11,850,000 permanently maimed), 4,242,000 made prisoner or missing. Can you imagine US reaction to casualties on that scale?

That is funny! anal, all I can tell you boy is the fact you must hitch up your skirt and scream out to defend france's honor with such shrill tones kinda shows I hit a nerve. Yeah, I did say that the cheap Iraqi military is performing as good as your countrymen did against one weimar corporal when he walked down the Champs Elyees, in the shade of course!

A. One, because he holds the bulb and all of Europe revolves around him

Q: How do you confuse a French Soldier? A: Give him a rifle and ask him to shoot it.

Q: What's the motto of the US Marine Corps? A: Semper Fi (Always Faithful) Q: What's the motto of the French Army? A: Stop, drop, and run!

Q. Why don't Master Card and Visa work well in France?

A. They do not know how to say "CHARGE!"

Q: What do women who are snipers in the French military use as camouflage? A: Their armpits.

The recent tremors felt throughout France have been attributed to the fifty six thousand+ WWI & WWII U.S. soldiers spinning in their graves.

Q: Why do the French people seem so hell bent on kissing Jacques Chirac's ass? A: Because the French, in general are less sensitive to bad smells and certainly more tolerant of bitter flavors!!

Q: What do you call a French man killed defending his country? A: I don't know either, its never happened!

Q: What Does "Maginot Line" mean in French? A: "Speed bump ahead"

Q: What’s the new French flag look like? A: A white cross emblazoned on a white background!

Q: Why did the Post Office have to recall its series of stamps depicting famous Frenchmen? A: People were confused about which side to spit on.

Famous quotes about the French: "I just love the French. They taste like chicken!" ---- Hannibal Lecter

"France has neither winter nor summer nor morals. Apart from these drawbacks it is a fine country. France has usually been governed by prostitutes." ---Mark Twain

"I would rather have a German division in front of me than a French one behind me." --- General George S. Patton

"The French are a smallish, monkey-looking bunch and not dressed any better, on average, than the citizens of Baltimore. True, you can sit outside in Paris and drink little cups of coffee, but why this is more stylish than sitting inside and drinking large glasses of whiskey I don't know." --- P.J O'Rourke (1989)

Q: What is the difference between American fries and French fries? A: Courage!!

Q: You are approached by three men while walking down a dark city street. One British, one American, one French. They all seem intent on mugging you. However, you have a gun, but alas, only two bullets. What do you do? A: Shoot the Frenchman twice. Good day!

Why don't the French really want the US to attack Iraq? Don't want their record for surrender broken.

Why did the French send Lady Liberty to America?

A. They had no use for her anyway

B. They didn't want the tired, poor, huddled masses to come to France for God's sake.

C. She wouldn't put out

D. To be a constant reminder of the help they gave to defeat the British. As if WE'RE the ones with the short memory.

E. They wanted to remind future generations that they once had the balls to do what is right.

F. All of the above

Q: Why do French people always wear yellow? A: To match the color of their blood!

Q: What's the easiest way to get lung cancer? A: Breath the air in Paris!

Q: Why does every army (except the U.S., England and Israel) have to have a French flag? A: In case they want to surrender!

Q: Why did the Statue of Liberty take karate? A: She wanted to be the first French person to be able to defend herself!

Also some sickening but true information came my way about the French. In French text books the U.S. in WWII is only 1 paragraph of information and worst of all D-day isn't mentioned at all!!!

This is a true story: I was up at a collage campus and this girl from France is working at the desk of the bookstore and I asked her if she lived in the French domitories she said "no I came to the U.S. to get away from them". Then I said "well then I guess your not going back after your done". Then she said "do you think I'm stupid, I'd never go back there it smells."

During one of the many wars that the French and the British fought and the French usually lost, the French just happened to capture a British Major. An officer brought the Major to the French general for interrogation. The French general began ridiculing the Major for wearing "that stupid red tunic." The French general said, "Why to you wear that red uniform, it makes it easy for us to shoot you." The British major replied, "If I do get wounded, the blood will not show, and my soldiers will not get scared." The French general said, "That is a very good idea," The Frenchy turned to his orderly and said, "From now on all French officers will wear brown pants."

Is that really the best you can do? I only see rage and stupidity in your post - which could be named "Catalog of racist clichés" By emitting these kind of racist comments and jokes you are discrediting yourself.

And apparently History is not your favorite subject. That, or the fact your historical information comes from Fox News and Jay Leno. Remember that without the French victories at Yorktown and Chesapeake Bay, the US wouldn’t be an independent nation …

So far, the violence hasn’t affected Iraq’s major oil fields, the country’s main source of revenue. Oil output has increased over the last several years. The country pumped more crude as it increased links to wells in its predominately Shiite south. Iraq is the second-biggest producer in OPEC after Saudi Arabia.

Whenever a few hundred armed men can jump aboard vehicles and drive into a city and totally destabilize it you have a problem. ISIS fighters posted videos of themselves burning government vehicles, setting up checkpoints and issuing challenges to the authority of Mr Maliki. If it begins to effect oil production it may well be "checkmate" on an already fragile government. More on this subject in the article below.

And then there's Wheat, Pork Belly, Orange Juice, and Coffee; all consumables. In fact, the only non-consumable commodity seems to be physical gold and, to a much lesser extent, silver. Everything else, all other commodities, are consumed, used up, disappeared. Gold endures.

Thanks to ZH for showing the larger portion of the relevant map. Let's remind everyone that Tblisi is in Georgia, of which we've heard before; note who borders Georgia on the north; that Georgia's neighbor Azerbaijan is home to Baku, a principal port and route for Caspian energy to flow westwards. Everyone please note yet again the location of Syria, Kurdistan, and Iran. And, let's not forget Turkey, which is in the process of engulfing itself in flames as we speak.

Now, it is easy to see what is happening, what the plan is, who is winning, and exactly what will happen when the West loses.

No one will give a fuck about Poland very soon, and the Baltic States will soon be sufficiently isolated that they will quietly change sides. The West can no longer afford to man its garrisons; this is what the end of empire looks like, in slow motion.

I've outlined it before, and it involves Russian / Eastern dominance of energy flows from east to west. They are close to achieving it now. Look at the map. The timing of the announcement of the finalization of the Russo-Chinese gas deal was a clue.

Russia will still want to subdue and 'administer' Poland. So with any 'Caliphate' that should emarge.

There was a time when Poland kicked Russia's ass and ruled most of what is now called Europe with a kinder hand than almost any other dominant Party, riding again and again to the rescue of Her weaker neighbors and protecting religious bastions -not always Christian- on principal.

The long time-line-minded Playas -particularly the cultural and religious repressive- aren't going to ignore the history of Poland.

Yes what is the plan? Given "full spectrum dominance" and Western support provided to Syrian rebels, I can't see how this wasn't either planned or allowed to happen.

" ... in politics nothing happens by accident ..." yet this is portrayed in the media here as an error a misjudgment of US foreign policy. The US "didn't go far enough". Whatever that means?

What struck me watching the news last night is apparently high living standards in the area, ISIS driving fleets of new Toyota Utes, clean fully kitted out in camo gear, good roads and nice cars generally, not at all like the rag tag Lybian rebel pictures.

Political correctness dictates they can't demonize a person of color or alternate religion. But white men and soldiers are completely fair game. Its not personal (well maybe it is for Obama), its about maintaining control through dependency and there is no stronger motivation for dependency than fear, especially irrational, invisible fear of your neighbor.

Absolutely oldwood! And with places like chili's announcing that they are putting 48000 tablets at their tables for customers to order without ever having to talk to a server, and of course you'll be able to play candy crush thereby not even having to talk with your guests, I doubt it'll get any better going forward

This is the lead story on CNN. The picture on the homepage shows four masked militants with rifles....I count one AK-47, two M16s and one M4. I wonder if we gave them any uniforms with USA patches still attached?

I'm not especially troubled by Mexicans [I am troubled to the extent they can get welfare beneys to backstop the risk of not being able to find work] but see no reason why the government wouldn't want to secure, really secure, a border through which there's already so much extant drug traffic, and a very nasty war between drug cartels and the federales that have seen Mexican troops, police, and gangsters straying now and then into Texas and Arizona - not that the good people commenting in the NY Times about how "fascist" Arizona was for wanting to enforce federal law give a single fuck.

{ahem}

Anyway, punchline is, if Al Qaeda were a real threat - the borders [including with Canada, and the major sea ports] would be sealed.

But all the security, facial recognition, mil surplus, etc. is in the interior. that's meant for me and you. And the childrens.

Al Qaeda, I concluded, is either not a real threat, or the US government is willing to accept Al Qaeda waltzing into the US from Mexico if it means millions more low wage workers and potential cannon fodder for the MIC.

Drugs wars are not fought when the sale and use of those drugs is not criminalized or otherwise regulated by officials with firearms.

How can the various European countries, many of which have endured many invasions, conflicts and deaths from neighboring countries, survive without secure, really secure, borders?

Do you think this entire secure border thing could just be propaganda to justify the imprisonment of Americans and their assets? Do you think it's possible that you and many other like minded individuals have been sucking on TPTB's media-shit and swallowing a bit too much? Or is it possible that you're another of their (new) sock puppets trying to convince us to swallow this shit?